College Picks, Week 14

It’s the last week of the regular season in college football. This week features five conference championship games, the Army-Navy game, plus several games moved to this week in the interest of television. Missouri and West Virginia have chances to play for a national championship by winning this week. With the abbreviated schedule, there are only 14 games to pick this week.

Last week: 13-7
Season: 171-89

Big XII Championship Game at San Antonio: Oklahoma vs. Missouri: In this bizarro world of a college football season, Mizzou finds itself #1 in the nation and one win away from the national championship game. The Tigers also find themselves as three-point underdogs against nemesis Oklahoma, who handed Missouri their only loss of the season. OU cannot win a national championship, but can win its 41st conference championship with a victory. This is a big game. Mizzou won a big game last week. OU plays in big games all the time, every year. Pick: OU

SEC Championship Game at Atlanta: Tennessee vs. LSU: The National Championship Game of the Confederacy pits two teams who played multiple overtimes last week. The Vols needed quadruple overtime to beat Kentucky and qualify for this game. The Tigers lost a triple-overtime heartbreaker to Arkansas, and find their coaches in the heat of contract discussions with other schools (Les Miles-Michigan, defensive coordinator Bo Pelini-Nebraska, Arkansas). LSU had their guts ripped out last week by the Hogs. Pick: Tennessee

ACC Championship Game at Jacksonville: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College: Is this the ACC championship game, or the Big East title game? Both teams were in the Big East until three years ago. VT led BC for most of the game in their regular season meeting, before the Eagles pulled a late comeback in the last five minutes to win the game. It’s hard to beat a good team twice. Pick: Virginia Tech

Conference USA Championship Game at Orlando: UCF vs. Tulsa: UCF finishes their first year in their new stadium by hosting the C-USA championship game for the second time in three years. Last time UCF was in this game, they lost to Tulsa. Knights make things right this week. Pick: UCF

MAC Championship Game at Detroit: Central Michigan vs. Miami (Ohio): The Chippewas recovered from early season whippings by Kansas, Purdue, and North Dakota State to win the West division of the MAC. Miami, the Cradle of Coaches, survived the East division. The game is in Michigan. Pick: Central Michigan

Army vs. Navy at Baltimore: You can usually throw out the records when these two teams get together. Most of us in the civilian world think of these two schools as practically being on the same team. Once on the battlefield, they are. However, within the military, this rivalry is as big as it gets. No matter how good or bad these teams are, this is a big game. Navy has been a lot better in recent years. Pick: Navy

UCLA at USC: USC can make it to the Rose Bowl with a win. The Trojans also have revenge on their minds following last year’s upset loss to the Bruins. Karl Dorrell is a dead man walking in Westwood. USC is getting healthy again. This could be ugly. Pick: USC

Oregon State at Oregon: The Civil War, aka the Ugly Uniform Bowl. Nike will be a major player in this game, as they have furnished plenty of ugly uniform combinations for both schools. Oregon has become a very ordinary team since the injury of QB Dennis Dixon. The Ducks were shut out last week by a mediocre UCLA team. Oregon bounces back to win over their archrivals. Pick: Ducks

Cal vs. Stanford: The Bears are stumbling to the finish line, but will still play in a bowl game. Believe it or not, they were once #2 in the nation. The Cardinal have a long way to go, but this is another game in which you throw out the records. Pick: Cal

Arizona at Arizona State: The Sun Devils have a good chance to land in a BCS bowl, possibly the crosstown Fiesta Bowl. Arizona has apparently saved Mike Stoops’ job for another year, but needs this one to become bowl eligible. Dennis Erickson has been a miracle worker this year in Tempe. ASU gets win #10. Pick: Arizona State

Pittsburgh at West Virginia: The Backyard Brawl. This is normally a bitter rivalry. This year, the Mountaineers have a good chance to play for a national championship. All they need to do is beat Pittsburgh to get that chance. On paper, this is a mismatch. But, it’s a rivalry game, so anything can happen. WVU is quite a bit better than Pitt. A tradition in Morgantown is to burn couches on the streets after a big win. Get ready to see an entire college town aflame in used furniture after this one. The state of West Virginia can plan to start taking over New Orleans in the first week of January. Pick: West Virginia

Rutgers at Louisville: Two teams who have failed to live up to last year’s banner seasons. Rutgers has been improving, while Louisville has fallen victim to a tough schedule. The Ville needs a win to reach .500. They don’t get it. Pick: Rutgers

Washington at Hawaii: This is a $17 million dollar game for the Warriors. If Hawaii wins, they remain in the top 12 of the BCS and most likely end up in the Sugar Bowl. $17 million would be split between Hawaii, the WAC, and the other non-BCS conferences. The Huskies have fallen apart as they have been playing competitive opponents every week. UW doesn’t have enough to keep up with Hawaii. Pick: Hawaii

BYU at San Diego State: This was rescheduled from October due to the wildfires in the San Diego area. The Cougars have already clinched the MWC title. BYU should be able to handle the Aztecs without much trouble. Pick: BYU